Bandwidth in content delivery and/or communications systems is typically limited and valuable. Further, the transmission method used in some of these systems (e.g., 4G or LTE cellular communications) is significantly more expensive than other transmission methods (e.g., WiFi, satellite or terrestrial broadcast), depending on the size of the content (e.g., bits) and the number of users who are receiving the content. Thus, efficient use of transmission bandwidth and consideration of cost effectiveness of different transmission modalities is desirable when delivering content to users' cellular phones, smartphones, telematics-enabled vehicles, portable computers, and other devices.
Software updates and other downloads to user devices are preferably performed over WiFi or other internet connection, since updates over a wireless network (e.g., 3G, 4G, etc.) are often subject to charges by the amount of bandwidth used, and the number of devices which must be provided with the update. Mobile devices, however, are not always able to be in WiFi range for updates.
Broadcast communication channels can provide a cost effective path for distributing the same information to a large geographically distributed population of mobile devices; however, a method relying only on broadcast communications does not provide assurance that all (or a sufficient number) of the mobile devices have received the update, and this assurance is necessary for many business applications.
A need therefore exists for a cost effective method of delivering software updates and other files to user devices, and particularly to mobile user devices that may not be in range for WiFi or other inexpensive internet connection. A need also exists for transmission method choices for delivering other data or messages to user devices depending on the number of users, the urgency of file or message delivery, and time constraints.